If your administrator has installed FirstClass Synchronization Services (FCSS) and your device supports synchronization, you can synchronize your FirstClass calendar events, contacts, and tasks with up to four remote devices and applications. These can include mobile phones, smartphones, personal digital assistants, and standards-based email clients.

Some handheld devices and applications have built in synchronization support, some need third party software added to support synchronization, and some can't be made to support synchronization.

Check your device's manual or contact your system administrator or device manufacturer to find out if your device can support synchronization and, if so, whether it uses SyncML or ActiveSync and whether you need to install any third party software.

Notes

If your device supports both SyncML and ActiveSync, choose only one of these to use. Don't use both.

If you previously used SyncML and would now like to use ActiveSync, see the device configuration details for ActiveSync below for information about how to make this switch.

If your device supports both SyncML and ActiveSync, choose only one of these. Don't use both.

To switch from SyncML to ActiveSync synchronization, configure for ActiveSync, as detailed below, make sure all your data is on FirstClass, then delete all the data on your device and resync from FirstClass with ActiveSync.

To configure for ActiveSync:

1 Locate and open the device's synchronization settings or profile.

This has different names on different devices.

2 Clear "Attempt to detect Exchange Server settings automatically".

3 Enter the URL of the FirstClass Synchronization Services server as provided by your system administrator.

You use the the Handheld Devices tabs on the Preferences form to configure how you want FirstClass to synchronize with your devices. The first time that you synchronize with a new device, FCSS automatically fills in the first available (non-active) device tab. Your device provides FCSS with the data for the "Unique identifier" and "Information" fields and FCSS fills in those fields and places a checkmark in the "Active" checkbox of that device tab.

You can configure your devices on these tabs even if you have not yet synchronized and so the device tabs are blank. Just make sure that if, for example, you configure the Device 1 tab for your BlackBerry, and the Device 2 tab for another client, you sync your BlackBerry for the first time before syncing the other client for the first time.

You can use these tabs to configure:

• how conflicts between the data on FirstClass and the data on the device are to be resolved

• a threshold date for the synchronization of calendar events and tasks

• whether you want to export/import attendees with calendar events

• the level of data to be exchanged in the next synchronization

• whether deletions on the device are to be synchronized to FirstClass.

To do this:

1 Choose Edit > Preferences.

2 Select the configuration options you want on the appropriate Handheld Devices tabs.

Tip

If you have more than four devices to sync, you can free up one of the device tabs by clearing the Active checkbox temporarily while you sync another device.

Configuring your FirstClass contact forms for synchronization

1 Choose Edit > Preferences.

2 Select Default at "Contact form" on the General tab.

This will change the format of your existing contact forms as well as any new contacts you add.

Configuring which FirstClass contacts are synchronized with which devices

You can configure your FirstClass contacts to be synchronized with some devices and not with others.

Note

The default is for all your FirstClass contacts to be synchronized with all your devices, so you only need to configure this if you don't want that default behavior.

To do this:

1 Choose File > Open > Contacts.

2 Open the contact you wish to synchronize to a specific device.

3 Select the checkboxes on the Notes tab that correspond to the devices you want to sync this contact with.

Once you've synchronized a particular device with your FirstClass account for the first time, you can start synchronizations any time just using the menu command or button your device provides for syncing. There are some special considerations and tasks involved in doing the initial sync, though, as explained below.

Before synchronizing a device for the first time

It's a good idea to make a copy of your contacts, calendar events, and tasks on FirstClass before you sync a device for the first time, so that they can be restored in the event of a synchronization mishap.

We recommend you do a one-way sync the first time to avoid duplication of entries in cases where your data is similar but not exactly the same on your FirstClass account and your device.

To make sure the first sync is one way, do one of the following before syncing:

• Ensure that all data is on FirstClass, then delete it from your device (recommended).

• Ensure all data is on your device, then delete it from FirstClass.

• Consolidate your FirstClass and device contacts to eliminate the possibility of duplicates.

To synchronize

1 Open the SyncML or ActiveSync client on your device.

2 Choose the profile you saved when you configured your device for synchronization.

3 Select the database(s) you want to synchronize.

4 Start the synchronization.

When you synchronize a device with FirstClass for the first time, it performs a slow (full) synchronization. FCSS goes through each candidate data item, determines whether it needs to be synchronized, and marks the fact that it has been synchronized. Subsequent synchronizations are much faster because only new or changed items are examined.

5 Once the initial synchronization is complete, do it one more time.

The server and your remote device should agree on a simple 2-way synchronization. Since none of the data has changed, the synchronization should take just a few seconds. This repeat process provides a confirmation that both ends are synchronized, and should only be necessary after your initial synchronization.

Calendars and Contacts may contain subcontainers that will be considered part of the parent container. These subcontainers will appear by name as separate groups and their contents will be synchronized to the corresponding group on the device. You can create multiple groups, but shared Contacts and Calendars by other users are protected, and any modifications on your device won't be propagated to FirstClass. Also, only subcontainers in the next level will be synchronized.

Any subcontainers two or more levels deep won't be synchronized. This feature can be used to hide from FCSS any subcontainers that should not be synchronized yet should still be available to the FirstClass client for search (for example, special subcontainers with large numbers of business contacts that should not be synchronized).

Creating a new group on your device

1 Create a new Contacts or Calendar database and populate it.

2 Drag and drop that new folder into the main Contacts or Calendar folder.

3 Synchronize.

When synchronization is completed, your device will have two groups: Contacts (Calendar) and the new one. You can toggle between the two.

Removing an existing group from your device

1 Drag the group you want to remove from the Contacts or Calendar folder on to your FirstClass Desktop or some other folder.